How To Create An Online Course And Earn A Passive Income?

If you haven’t considered creating a passive income stream by making and selling your own (create an) online course, why not? To say that this has been a challenging year would be like saying that coffee is nice — somewhat of an understatement.

While this has, without a doubt, been the most difficult year for my own and many others’ businesses, if we scratch a bit, we can find some positive outcomes. We’ve learnt how to be resilient and to keep going, even if we’ve had to change how we do business.

Studying content through digital learning takes up to 60% less time than traditional classroom learning.

That’s been my biggest lesson: to be agile, accepting, and willing to try new things because who would ever have thought that the world could shut down?

But shut down is what the world did. Along with it, many of our own businesses. And if they didn’t close entirely, they certainly felt the shockwaves of a shuttered world. We’ve come a long way since then and we’re better prepared and more knowledgeable, but our lives are different because the world is different.

What we need to be doing now is finding ways to strengthen our businesses by exploring alternative income streams. A great option for just about any business is to create and sell online courses. And with businesses having become remote, and online, now is the time to be getting your courses out there.

3 Reasons Why You Should Create an Online Course Now

1. Uncertainty about the economy

No one is able to predict an end date for this pandemic. The only thing we can be certain of is that the world has changed and continues to every day. When I started writing this post a few days ago (ok fine, it was a week ago!) the world was still tentatively open.

Today the United Kingdom announced a new lockdown, and much of Europe has implemented heavier restrictions or done the same. Things change quickly. As more and more businesses struggle and close, the more other businesses feel it.

We need to be doing all we can right now to bolster our businesses by finding alternative and parallel income streams. A great way to earn this passive income, and give yourself a feeling of security, is to create an online course.

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2. Your audience is right where you need them, right now

Now more than ever people are online. They’re working online, meeting online, shopping, playing, and learning. They already know the value of online learning, so you don’t have to convince them. That part’s already been done. What you do need to do is create a course that they need, something that will help them solve a problem, or make their lives easier. Then they will buy it!

3. Building relationships now helps build your business

Even though a business may have slowed down, maybe even dried up, it doesn’t have to stay that way. People may not be able to buy your product or services right now, but they will remember you when they are in a position to buy if you helped them.

By creating an online course, you are establishing yourself as an expert in your industry. If you create helpful, quality resources for your customers or clients, they will come to you when they need help again.

There has never been a more necessary time to investigate passive income streams than now. With your audience already spending most of their time at their computers, an online course that adds value to their lives, wouldn’t take much convincing to buy.

How To Create An Online Course

As with most things in life, you can wing it and hope for the best. Or if you’re not a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants type person, you can follow a process based on instructional design knowledge and experience. Let’s take a look at the second option.

Step 1 — Choose your topic

Your first step is to decide the topic to create an online course. While it’s a good idea to choose something that interests you, it’s even more important that your topic is something your audience wants to or needs to know about. Brainstorm the following:

• What are your areas of expertise?
• What are you interested in?
• What does your audience need?
• What is the gap in your niche?

Once you have a few ideas for each of those, look to see if there is an overlap. That overlap is your course topic.

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Step 2 — Research your audience and create an ideal client profile

When you’re choosing your topic, you’ll need to consider your audience’s needs. You may already have an idea of who your ideal client or audience is, or maybe you aren’t clear about who you are selling your service or product to.

In either case, creating an ideal client profile will make crafting your course easier and more efficient, and it will help ensure you are consistent in how you speak to your audience.

An audience profile describes the demographics (age, occupation, primary language), behaviour, psychographics (values, attitudes, beliefs), and the type of business your ideal client owns. If you know what interests your audience, and what they value, you will be able to speak to them in a way that is relevant to their lives. And it’s when something is relevant to a people’s lives, that they see the value in it.

The better your understanding of your audience, and the more you use this information while you create your course, the harder your course will hit. If you have a clear picture of your audience, how they behave in certain situations, and what they value, you’ll be able to speak to them in a way that they understand and that is meaningful to them.

Step 3 — What content do you have?

You have your topic, and you know your audience like you know your own face. Your next step is to check what content you have and what you still need, by doing a content audit. If the topic you have decided on is an area you’re an expert in, you already have a lot of content — your knowledge.

But there may still be areas where having a source that confirms your views is valuable. I use a table to organise my information and help me to find content gaps. I also use the table to differentiate between the content my audience needs to know, and what is just nice to know. Stick to need-to-know information, otherwise, they’ll get information overload!

Step 4 — How will you deliver your course?

There are as many different ways to deliver your course as you can think of, but not all content is suited to all types of delivery. Instructional videos that explain how to make something, for example, a beaded purse, would be more effective than a workbook with text only.

These are great for asynchronous learning. A career coaching course would be a great opportunity for synchronous learning or coaching. Let’s dive a little deeper into asynchronous and synchronous courses.

Synchronous online learning

Synchronous or real-time courses are live. Zoom workshops, webinars, and Facebook Live events are all types of synchronous online learning. Your audience participates together, and they have the opportunity to learn from each other and share their own experiences. This type of learning doesn’t appeal to everyone though, and they may prefer asynchronous options.

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Asynchronous learning

Asynchronous learning is self-paced, and your audience can complete the course according to their own schedule. If you decide that asynchronous learning works best for you and your audience, you can include pre-recorded videos, workbooks. eLearning modules, and podcasts.

1. Blended learning

So, how do you know which type of learning is best for your course? You need to consider a few things:

• What does your audience need?
• What type of learning (asynchronous or synchronous) works for your content?
• What can you commit to delivering? (for example, can you commit to hosting and facilitating live online workshops at a specific time on a regular basis?).

You could also create your own custom blend of learning materials that suit:

• Your audience’s needs for a solution to a problem or challenge they’re having
• Your content and topic
• Your time and financial budget

A blend of scheduled and self-led learning (also called hybrid learning) lets you personalise your course by using live events. It also allows you to extend your reach. For example, if your audience is time zones away from you, your online live events may not fit their schedule.

E-learning is energy saving, with 90% less energy used by the open university when turning to digital education outlets.

2. Video

Video is a great vehicle for delivering content to your audience. Here are some benefits of using video in your course:

• Videos are easy to make now with so many video platforms and video-editing apps available.
• People are used to watching videos on their computers and on their mobile devices.
• Video content is also easy to share, so if you’re giving your course away as part of your marketing strategy, or if you’re giving away sections of your course, it can be easily shared.

Video is best used in 2–3-minute clips for learning. It may seem short, but you must remember that you want an engaged audience. Not someone passively staring at the screen for three hours. Also, if you keep your videos shorter, people can access them anywhere and learn in three-minute bursts.

3. Workbooks

Workbooks are a popular option when it comes to creating courses. They are easy to put together, publish, send out, and update. They’re also a great way to deliver topics that need in-depth explanations. My caution here is to use workbooks as part of a blend of media in your course. Use workbooks, but include videos, eLearning (if it’s an option), and webinars (a simple Facebook Live is perfect).

4. eLearning

Things have changed since the days of wordy hours-long online learning you may have had to do at work or school. There are loads of online learning platforms and learning plugins available now (for example, Teachable, Thinkific, Udemy, LearnDash). Like anything else, some are fabulous, and others aren’t great.

The way to tell the difference is by looking at the actual POINT of a learning platform: to make learning, and delivering learning, efficient and effective. So, if you’re looking at using an app, it should make your customer’s life EASIER, not more difficult, or they will abandon the learning!

Summary

With most of our lives already being spent online, and with the constant uncertainty and changes our businesses are facing, now is an excellent time to create an online course.

Not only is it a way for you to create a parallel income, but also it’s a way to build your reputation as an expert in the field who is happy to help people.

This focuses then on relationship building and helping your clients and potential clients, is what will bring them back to you in the future.

Have you created your own online course? What things do you keep in mind?

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